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Amanda Howard: How a Scholarship Helped My Son Learn to Talk

May 13, 2014
• ExcelinEd

For too many families, existing public schools can’t meet the needs of their children. Amanda Howard is one such mother, whose autistic son was unable to verbally express himself for his first six years of life. Fortunately for her, Arizona lawmakers created an Education Savings Account program, designed to help special-needs students receive a customized education based on their unique needs. For Amanda Howard, this program gave her son what so many families take for granted—the gift of speech.

“For our son, we needed something else.”

“I don’t fault the public school, and I hope that one day Nathan would be prepared for a traditional classroom, but he’s not there now. Using an education savings account has been a tremendous improvement for us. Since he’s been using an account, I’ve found a one-on-one tutor for him and a new school that helps students with autism. Today, Nathan has learned to talk and he loves learning to spell and even reading books.”

“Public schools will still open every fall. We shouldn’t be worried about whether education savings accounts are going to close public schools because those schools are going to stay open, as they have for generations. We should be concerned about children attending a public school but not getting the help they need.”